String Lug the Fox

by David Stephen, Nina Scott Langley (Illustrator)

The journey of a fox's life; a vivid unsentimental tale.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

David Stephen (b.1911) was a Scottish naturalist, author and journalist. In 1947 he became nature writer with the Daily Record, then nine years later moved to The Scotsman, where worked for a number of years. He was the first director of Palacerigg Country Park, near Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire.

Reviews

[Cody Crouch]

Absolutely amazing!

Every time I read this book it brings such joy. Also really cool to read from the perspective of a wild fox.

[Victoria Foote-Blackman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly original and distinctive work of fiction that draws on the author's prodigious experience as a naturalist in Scotland. The Eponymous title refers to its main character, a grey fox born and raised under dramatic circumstances in a richly described landscape where the guiding principle for so many wild animals is 'eat or be eaten.' Set during World War II, the book alludes sometimes to men's worldly concerns, and there are several vividly drawn human beings. But the focus is on String Lug, and how he survives the many challenges he faces as a fox: hunger, relations with vixens, mating, helping raise his young, outwitting farmers and poachers, learning to avoid traps and poison, all the while relentlessly harassed by the squawking litany of a myriad of different birds.

This may be a hard book to read for anyone not genuinely interested in the great outdoors or wld animals, and it can make for queasy reading because of String Lug's continual need to hunt, kill and dine on once-living creatures. But for those who stay with the book, the reader will come out of the experience with a profound sense of what life is truly like for a fox, and will have gained insight into l why foxes are considered to be so sly and so clever.

Finally, many of the terms for the landscape are Scottish, and between that and the conversations that take place between hunters, the attentive reader might wish to obtain a Scottish-English Dictionary or keep an online version at hand.

[Jeannette Dodds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book when I was about 14, thoroughly enjoyed it second time around and will read it again in the future. It made me both laugh and cry as the story progressed.

[Casimir Laski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly routine, if generally well-written story of a fox growing up in the Scottish Highlands that feature so prominently in Stephen’s writing. [6/10]

[Grizzly Lumberjacks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. I had bought his 'Watching Wildlife' as a teenager and love it. Only recently did I find out that he had written fiction/novels about animal as well. A real treat